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'Companions' Folio Mini Album

Today's project has some significance for me. I've made this folio style mini album with the wonderful 'Companions' collection. I've usually been able to quickly put mini albums together in the past but this one was different.

We lost our family dog Toby just this past July. This is the first project I'm making about him since he left us. Needless to say--I've struggled tremendously with it. Not so much in dealing with the memories but in designing the album. There's so much I want to document about him & I don't know quite how to go about it.

Toby was our first family dog. He was MY first dog. When we first got him, I never even imagined how much he'd teach me. I learned the true meaning of unconditional love from him. I found out that all my worries & problems could go away simply by having Toby happily lick my face when I came home from a long day. I got used to having a 'party' thrown in my honor full of loud barks, tail wagging, jumping & running whenever I came home or even stepped back into a room! He was very much loved & pampered. He showed his gratitude & returned our love with every inch of his furry little body.

Here's the back of the mini. It's kept closed with a gold elastic band adhered to the base of the folio with gold eyelets. For the most part, I've kept the design clean & simple. All I knew when I began this project is that I wanted something where I could store several wallet sized photos along with journaling & quotes/sentiments that would in some way represent how I've been feeling since July. The mojo has simply not flowed how it usually does. Doing this project has been therapeutic for me--but I still miss him very much.

When you open the folio, I have this tag made from images cut from the 'Companions' 6x6 pad & adhered to gold glittered card stock. This tag keeps the two flaps closed. It's adhered to the top flap with wet glue & to the bottom flap with magnets.

This is just a sample of how I'm thinking I'm going to design this mini. As you can see, I can store wallet sized photos (3 1/2" x 2 1/2" inches) with no cropping needed & I even included a small 1/16th of inch white border around my photo & it still fits just right.

Beneath each photo or above it (depending where I want to put my photo) I plan on storing quotes such as the one seen in this photo or my own thoughts--I haven't figured out which yet. I'll probably just end up mixing the two as my journaling.

The folio folds out accordion style to reveal 6 pages. I've also included small pockets randomly adhered to a few of the pages.

I've included a 1/8" inch gusset between each page to allow room for expansion since the mini will grow once all the photos are added.

Since this is an accordion style mini--you can then flip the pages the other way to reveal five additional pages for storing more photos & journaling.

I do not have a video showcasing this mini since it's not complete. However, I do have a brief tutorial below on how I created the base for this type of mini.

As mentioned, this is designed for wallet sized photos which makes it ideal for quickly storing photos since no cropping is needed. If left plain & simple, it serves as a mini that one can carry around a purse & it comes together fairly quickly.

On the 9 7/8" x 6" inch card stock, you'll end up with a 1/2" flap use this flap to adhere both pieces of card stock together. I use double sided tape for this part. Then accordion fold (zig zag fold) along the score lines as shown in the photo. These are the pages for the mini.

NOTE: Size I wrote for the base is off by 1/4" of an inch in a few places. Please follow these measurements below for accuracy.

Once scoring is done, remove the four corners as shown in the photo. You can either use scissors or a trimmer for this step

This is what your base should look like after the four corners are removed.

Base of the mini has a 1/2" inch spine on all sides. This part is optional--you can also score on every 1/8" inch in between the 1/2" inch to make the spines more flexible. This is the approach I took on my mini.

Put your folio together by adhering the pages to the base of the mini as shown.

Here's the pages of the mini folded out.

If you want to add pockets like I did, you'll need pieces of card stock measuring 4" x 2 1/2" inches. Scare at 1/2" inch on 3 sides as shown.

Trim the bottom corner flaps as shown in order to form the pockets. Fold the flaps down & adhere to the pages with double sided tape or wet tape--whichever you're more comfortable with. NOTE: If you want to add a decorative border like I did, you'll need to cut your border first before adhering to the page.

Finished pocket.

Thanks for stopping by & I hope some of you find this tutorial helpful.